


Heroes forge their own endings

by Azureflowers



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Futaba is a computer god, M/M, MMORPGs, Self-Aware AI, don't think too hard about this, let's all just silently accept that, literal Protagonist x NPC, or something like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 09:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15483219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azureflowers/pseuds/Azureflowers
Summary: ...and sometimes they need to end the world to do it. It happens.Or how Akira and Mishima went above and beyond expectations to get something more than just another sidequest.





	Heroes forge their own endings

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally for Mishimonth in January (I can't remember which prompt) but I couldn't finish it back then. Now I was alone at home for nearly the entire weekend and said to myself "you know what time to finish this". For some reason I really like stories about AI developing feelings??
> 
> It's kind of confusing what kind of game this is meant to be. I don't actually play any online ones myself, but I guessss it's some kind of story-heavy multiplayer one? You're going to have a better time with this if you don't really think about the technicalities and just roll with it.

 

My name is ”Mishima”. I am training to be in the Royal Guard of the tiny kingdom of Shujin. Until recently, the kingdom was terrorized by the false king Kamoshida, but we were saved by a band of heroes who had unexpectedly come to our land. 

(Well, not entirely unexpectedly. It happens all the time, actually.)

To show my gratitude for being relieved from the tyrannical rule of the false king, I put up a message board where people all around the kingdom can post their worries and expose other foul villains that still make their life miserable. I collect the messages together and offer them as Quests to the heroes who come visit me, giving out rewards when the requirements are fulfilled. That’s my job.

I am what you would call an NPC. I have my role in the story quest involving Kamoshida, and then it’s just quest after another. If you clear quest #47, you get to hear some of my backstory, but it’s not particularly flashy – most heroes just take that quest because the reward is required for acquiring a rare weapon. That’s the entirety of my role in the story: only 279 recorded lines, most of them providing information on some bandits bothering a nearby village or a spurned woman cursing the object of her affections and so on.

Still, it’s not a bad job by any means. I get to see the heroes grow and evolve as they revisit me for new quests. I never get tired of watching them develop from unsure beginners waving their simple swords and staffs around into battle-worn adventurers with their mythical gear and amazing techniques capable of challenging a literal god.

I see a familiar hero approaching me. His name is Akira Kurusu. He and his teammates only started the game not long ago, but they have progressed at an impressive rate. I like dealing with Kurusu, he’s very polite. Some heroes skip my dialogue just to get to the quest, but he always listens patiently to what I have to say. This time is no different.

“Good job, hero! Now the old couple can return to their home. They asked me to send their regards.” I hand over a pouch full of coin and some middle-tier restorative items. It was a fairly small quest this time around.

Kurusu nods and accepts the loot. I expect him to leave, but he suddenly addresses me again. Without batting an eyelid, I smile at him.

“Hello again! I’m afraid I don’t have any new quests for you at the moment. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an ear out for any requests for help!”

I get to use this line every now and then. Kurusu’s team has been particularly diligent with clearing every available quest, and the next ones won’t be unlocked until the corrupt

Treasure Keeper Kaneshiro has been defeated. With the current level of these heroes, they should be able to clear the boss without too much trouble…hm?

“Hello again! I’m afraid I don’t have any new quests for you at the moment. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an ear out for any requests for help!”

That was a bit unexpected. Perhaps he wanted to hear the line again in case he missed some detail-

“Hello again! I’m afraid I don’t have any new quests…”

It doesn’t show on my face, but I start to get confused. Why does he keep asking me for quests when I clearly tell him there’s nothing to give? And why does he stare at me so intensely?

One of Kurusu’s teammates steps in, touching his shoulder.

“What are you doing? He says he got nothing, let’s go kick the piggy bank’s ass,” the blond rogue says, pointing his thumb in the general direction of the Treasure Keeper’s lair. Kurusu seems reluctant, but concedes anyway. As they turn away to set off, he meets my eyes once more, and his expression is unlike any I have seen before.

 

* * *

 

It is not an isolated incident.

 

Kurusu comes to meet me every day, regardless of whether he has any quests to claim or not. Sometimes he comes alone without his teammates, and just stands next to me, observing me, listening to me repeat the same trite pleasantries over and over. Doesn’t he get tired of listening to them? 

He clears quest #47, of course. It involves helping someone called Akiyama, a person I have some unpleasant history with. As Kurusu returns to report the quest as complete, I explain that part of my motivation to join the Royal Guard was to get out of the reach of the likes of Akiyama and find a way to become someone I could be proud of. That the fact I am helping the heroes to save the world is part of that goal.

It’s not exactly the most moving or memorable plotline in the grand narrative, but it’s my arc and all I can do is tell it the best I can. Not that I have any real means to actually affect the quality of a pre-scripted event, though.

“Well, anyway…thanks for hearing me out. It really means a lot.”

As I speak the last line of the quest dialogue, I hand out the rare material needed for crafting Endymion, the Moonblade. Kurusu tosses it in his inventory with barely a glance, and turns to look at me instead. His eyes are full of strange warmth as he says,

“I’m glad you told me."

 

_I don’t understand._

_Why are you doing this?_

_Why do you care so much…?_

 

There’s so much I want to ask him, but I don’t have the voice to speak out. All that comes from my mouth is, 

“Hello again! I’m afraid I don’t have any new quests for you…”

 

* * *

 

 

It happens eventually. Kurusu clears out all the quests. He explores every nook and cranny of the land, vanquishes all the secret monsters and gains the rare items. Like a true hero. And yet he comes back to me, alone. 

“You are ready to face Yaldabaoth, the God of Order.”

He knows. He has agreed to meet up with his teammates on the next day to finish the game.

“It won’t be an easy battle. Make sure you are prepared.”

He will be fine. He has already cleared sidequests much more challenging.

“But I believe in you! Take care, hero. I’ll never forget you.”

He flinches at the finality of my words, and locks eyes with me.

“Take care, hero. I’ll never forget you.”

_Stop it._

 

“Take care, hero. I’ll never forget you.”

_Please, I mean it._

 

“Take care, hero. I’ll never forget you.”

_There’s nothing more!_

 

He already has heard it all. All 279 lines. He must know them as well as I do, by now.

This is just the way things are. Heroes appear suddenly, save the world and then disappear without a trace. All that people like me can do is to support them on their journey and send them off with a smile at the end.

_That’s our purpose. That’s all there is._

 

“Take care, hero. I’ll never forget you.”

_Why does my smile make you look so pained?_

 

He still has Endymion equipped. It’s a top tier weapon, but I know he has superior ones by this point. I don’t understand.

 

“Mishima.”

 

His expression is nothing like the air of detached coolness that heroes usually carry. 

“Mishima, I need to know if you actually can hear me.”

I stare at him with an unchanging smile. What else am I supposed to do?

“I don’t know why, but…you feel more real than anything in this world! I can’t explain it, maybe I’m just losing my mind…but I _know_ I’m right! Just…somehow…” he reaches out and tries to take a hold of my arm. His hand slides right through me – I wasn’t designed to be interacted with at such a sophisticated level. He raises his head to lock eyes with me.

“…show me a sign.”

It’s an absurd request. Self-aware or not, I’m hardly more than strips of code, a limited list of pre-programmed events and actions. It’s a fool’s errand to even try to surpass that fact and yet… I open my mouth while trying to bite back the automatic words spilling out.

“Take care, hero. Take c- c- c- _Hello again_!”

Kurusu’s eyes widen at the jarring change in the tone of my voice. There’s no way for me to produce new speech when the lines have never been recorded, so I lift pieces of existing lines to weave together a message.

“My name is Mishima. THanks fOR hearing me out- Good jobjobjob hERo!”

The lines were never meant to be played like this. The audio starts skipping in places and I hear a growing static noise in my head.

“I’ll never forge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-“

I freeze in place, mid-sentence. Then the whole world around us grinds to a halt: all movement stops and even the comforting background tune goes silent. Just the static noise keeps getting louder.

_Oh no_.

_The game is crashing._

Just as the thought occurs to me the sky splits in half as if cleaved by a giant heavenly sword, and a curtain of black sweeps over everything.

The static dies out.

 

* * *

 

I awake in a space that is not black, but white. This is surprising, but I expect it to be a side effect of the crash. Perhaps rebooting has not been completed yet.

As I begin to observe my surroundings, I see something far more unexpected.

“Mishima?”

Kurusu’s face hovers right over me, and I realise I am in lying down horizontally. I don’t think I’ve ever been in this particular position – my body feels peculiar. I refocus my attention to Kurusu, who is speaking again.

“Can you talk, Mishima? Do you recognise me?”

I automatically react before realising it makes no sense for me to try and answer that question.

“…Yes…you’re Kurusu.”

My voice sounds different. It’s not the usual recorded voice, but instead something more mechanical. However, Kurusu’s face lits up and he turns to shout somewhere above,

“Oh my god it…it _worked_ , Futaba!”

“Ohh YEAHHHH!”

I hear a voice that I could describe as a victorious screech. It seems to come from a round, glowing object floating in the middle of emptiness above us. A female-sounding voice continues to let out excited noises as Kurusu turns back to me.

“That’s Futaba. She’s my sister, and it’s all thanks to her we’re talking here like this!”

“What is this place? Didn’t the game crash…?”

Kurusu nods, “It did. It seems that your manipulation of the script caused the whole system to collapse. I tried restarting the game but all of my save files had been corrupted. I was really worried that you had…“ he pauses before shaking his head.

“I really have no idea how, but Futaba managed to salvage some of the lost data. She created this sandbox area and copied your character data here. She even remodelled your body and added a synthetic voice programme. It’s not quite like having a professional actor speaking for you, but now you’re not limited to the scripted lines.”

“It was still a huge gamble, though,” Futaba’s voice chimes in from above, “If the memory files had not transferred correctly or if Akira had been wrong about your level of self-awareness, you would have been just a mindless doll in the middle of nowhere. But, it all worked out! No one on the forum’s gonna believe me…” she lets out a massive yawn.

“Time for bed?” Kurusu asks.

“Yup. I’ll leave everything on so just log out when you’re done. Bye!”

The floating object disappears in a flash of pixelated light.

“She’s been working at this for weeks now. Sojiro had to physically drag her away from the keyboard to make her get at least some rest every now and then…”  
  
“Sojiro?”

“He’s our guardian. Hm, maybe I should ask Futaba to make him an avatar as well…”

I interrupt Kurusu’s musings as something has been on my mind for a while already.

“The save file was corrupted so…you never got to beat the final boss?” I feel a bit sad that my actions have effectively prevented him from completing the game. It’s pretty much the opposite of what my role in the game is supposed to be. But Kurusu doesn’t look disappointed at all.

“That’s…true, I suppose. I really didn’t think of that. I don’t think the others will care, either – not when they get to actually meet you.”

As Kurusu smiles at me, I consider the abundance of new information. I’m outside the game, no longer able to fulfil my previous role but…that also means I am free from its restraints. I will myself to a sitting position and my body obeys me with surprising ease.

“What happens now?” I ask Kurusu.

“Well…we’re going to make this space a bit more comfortable to live in, to start with. You can ask for anything you’d like to have here, Futaba can code it. Oh, and she mentioned she’s looking into the possibility of connecting this place to my smart phone so you can observe the outside world and communicate with me when I’m out. I admit I didn’t really think very much beyond this point, but… I’d like to get to know you – you know, the real thing. …If you’re okay with that.”

I can’t say I fully understand what he’s talking about – what’s a smart phone? I always knew that there was some kind of world outside the game where the heroes came from, but I can’t even begin to imagine it.

But if all this means I can continue to talk with Kurusu…

 

“…That would be great.”


End file.
